Mining trucks are, generally, used at mining sites to move large quantities of materials from one area of a worksite to another. Large scale mining operations may employ a fleet of mining trucks to achieve mining production targets in shorter periods of time, wherein each truck hauls a large payload of materials during each trip. Of course, to increase productivity, efficiency, and profitability, trucks able to haul increasingly sized payloads are desired at the worksite. However, a large payload may create stability concerns for the truck.
To increase productivity of a fleet of mining trucks on a worksite where each truck hauls a large payload, autonomous and/or semi-autonomous control systems and methods may be employed. Autonomous or semi-autonomous control has been used to improve efficiency on a variety of work sites. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,275,516 (“Agricultural Vehicle Autopilot Rollover Risk Assessment System”) details a control system for agricultural equipment which may warn an operator of a risk of machine roll over, particularly when the agricultural equipment is turning, during manual, semi-autonomous, or autonomous operation.
However, when a machine, such as a mining truck, is configured to haul a large payload, a number of unique factors arise during path planning, which are not present in path planning for other machines, like, for example, the agricultural equipment of the '516 patent. Particularly, in large mining trucks, the payload can be loaded in the bed or body of the truck in such a way that the center of mass of the payload may be off-center.
If the center of mass is off-center, then stability of the mining truck may be affected. In certain situations, if a truck is travelling on a cross sloping road, a control system that only plans a path based on information that only accounts for a centered load may give rise to productivity loss. If the control system sets the path conservatively, the efficiency and/or effectiveness of the haul of the truck may be reduced.
Therefore, systems and methods for controlling path planning of a mining truck, based on payload imbalance, are desired.